No Name's chest continued radiating clashing green and red light, sustaining the trillions of threads of reality itself.
Without wasting another second, his left hand grabbed the Blue Stone from Arrow's grasp, and he absorbed it instantly.
The moment the third stone touched his skin, the balance of the universe before him shattered apart.
ZRAAAASH!
No Name's vision turned completely dark.
Not darkness caused by closed eyes, but an absolute void that swallowed all of his senses whole.
The ruined laboratory, Rare's weak breathing, even the distant footsteps outside the lab... everything vanished.
He had returned to this place.
The Void Dimension where he had first received the curse of Pure Darkness.
But this time, the faceless entity was no longer hiding.
The shadowy being stood towering before him, its form now denser, resonating with the same darkness flowing through No Name's veins.
The entity's voice did not reach his ears.
It echoed directly within his consciousness.
Ancient. Heavy. Arrogant beyond the age of the universe itself.
"I have waited millions of years for this moment..."
The black creature spread its arms made of dense mist.
Around them, the darkness projected countless galaxies being born and dying endlessly.
"In the beginning, before time had a name and space had boundaries, only two entities breathed upon the void," the being began. "I, the Absolute Nothingness. And she, the Light of Creation. Together, we wove the canvas of this universe. She created stars and life, while I provided the empty space for her creations to exist within."
The surrounding galaxies trembled.
"But balance is a lie," the creature continued, its tone turning cold. "Her creations became too noisy. She claimed the universe belonged to her. So I cast her away. I betrayed the Light, tore apart her power, and sealed her core within a blind point humans now call the Bermuda Triangle."
The projection shifted, showing a radiant woman bound by chains of darkness, sinking endlessly into a dimensional ocean without a bottom.
"I nearly claimed everything. But before being sealed away, that Light embedded three fundamental nails into reality itself. Red, green, and blue. Three stones that became the foundation of the universe, locking me within this void. Three stones my own hands could never touch, because they are coated in the pure essence of that Light."
The black entity slowly floated downward until it stopped directly before No Name.
Its faceless head seemed to stare straight into the soul of the Nameless Devil.
"To claim them, I needed someone else's hands. I needed an agent from the mortal world. But my darkness would destroy any human foolish enough to contain it..."
No Name's breathing halted.
His genius mind instantly began assembling the missing pieces of the puzzle. His cold eyes locked onto the entity.
"So... you needed an empty vessel," No Name hissed.
The black creature laughed.
The sound was not loud, yet it was enough to crack the sanity of anyone who heard it.
"Exactly. I required a completely hollow chalice. Humans filled with love, hope, identity, or attachment... their souls are already occupied. If I poured my darkness into them, they would crumble into ash like the thousands of your experimental subjects."
The entity leaned closer, whispering the truth that had remained buried for so long.
"Do you know how difficult it was to create the perfect vessel, No Name?"
No Name's eyes widened slightly.
The word create struck his chest harder than any physical blow ever could.
"You believed your miserable life was merely the cruelty of the world? You believed the storm that flooded your cardboard box as an infant was coincidence?" the creature whispered mockingly, its voice dripping with cruel amusement.
"It was I who whispered fear and guilt into your parents' ears so they would abandon you in that filthy alley. I made certain you never received a name, so your existence would never be acknowledged by the world."
No Name's hand began trembling.
Memory after memory slammed into his mind mercilessly.
"And that old man... the one who lifted you from the rain-soaked box. You believed his lungs failed because of infection? No. The moment you began to feel warmth, the moment your vessel started filling with affection... I crushed his lungs from this dimension. I strangled him slowly until he died before your eyes, all to empty your soul once again."
"Shut your mouth..." No Name growled.
The red and green aura in his chest flickered violently alongside his collapsing emotions.
"And then Kael," the entity continued mercilessly, tearing open his deepest wound. "The first friend brave enough to look into your eyes. I arranged the false coordinate code that led him to track Aegis' servers. I guided the bounty hunters to your hideout, and I ensured the bullet pierced his skull... directly before your eyes."
The surrounding darkness itself seemed to laugh alongside No Name's suffering.
"All your suffering... every hunger that tore apart your stomach, every drop of blood you spilled, every betrayal that froze your heart... it was all a script I wrote. You never truly lived, No Name. You were sculpted. Hollowed of every fragment of humanity, forced into becoming the Nameless Devil, all so you would become strong enough to contain my power and gather those three cursed stones for me!"
No Name's chest felt crushed beneath an invisible press.
The entire foundation justifying his cruelty shattered completely.
He believed he hated the world because the world had been cruel to him.
He believed he trampled upon the world in revenge for the injustice he suffered.
But the truth
He was nothing more than a pathetic puppet dancing upon a stage of suffering deliberately prepared by this entity.
His misery held no meaning.
His childhood tears had been a joke.
"So..." No Name's voice trembled, not from fear, but from a rage so dark and absolute it surpassed sanity itself.
His face lowered, hidden beneath the shadow of his hair.
"...my life was merely your amusement."
The black entity spread its arms wide, demanding the result of its masterpiece.
"You have fulfilled your duty perfectly, my pawn. You sacrificed yourself to sustain the threads of reality. Now... surrender your body and the three stones to me, and I shall allow you to rest within nothingness."